Famous Brands, which owns Steers‚ Wimpy and Debonairs, plans to open 243 new restaurants in the coming year after reporting record turnover and profit for the year. It is also planning to enter Angola and Ghana.

Famous Brands on Wednesday, 9 April 2014, said it had established a strong platform for growth in the Middle East and North Africa regions with the signing of a master license agreement for Saudi Arabia‚ Lebanon‚ Morocco‚ Iran and Egypt.

In SA, Famous Brands produces 265,000 cups of specially blended coffee a day. With 2,175 restaurants, the company, whose brands include Wimpy, Steers and Mugg & Bean, also makes 77m ice-cream cones a year. It's the big daddy of SA franchising, with a R9,7bn market capitalisation, and it wants to repeat its local success in the rest of Africa.

Hilton Worldwide has expanded its product offering in SA over the past six months and the US-based group intends to increase its presence in Africa‚ according to vice-president of operations for Africa and the Indian Ocean‚ Jan van der Putten.